... Pretty much. Specifically, you will be able to add money into the Wii store until March of next year, but you will have until January 2019 to spend that money. There is also no guarantee that you will be able to re-download any games you've previously purchased after Jan. 2019.
So what do I think of this? Well, it was going to happen someday. Nintendo has never been one to leave online services on after the system they are on isn't selling anymore, as you see with, well, every previous online network they have ever done, up to Miiverse, which shuts down in about a month. I presume that WiiWare/WiiVC was making money for a decent while, since it is a cash shop, but it must not be anymore, obviously. So down it goes. For many platforms (though not the Wii) this would be terrible for game preservation, and this is yet another very bad sign for the future of digital games.
There are two sides to this. One the one hand, this is another reminder that digital storefronts can and will be shut down, and your purchases will eventually not be re-downloadable. However, you can lose physical games as well, and in some cases people have had all their games lost, destroyed, or what have you. You can lose your games either way. However, this way EVERYONE loses everything and no one is able to buy any of the hundreds of download-exclusive Wii games again after this, so of course physical is far better for lastability, as has always been said.
However, in this case, things aren't as bad as they could be -- because the Wii has been completely hacked open, if you just install custom software into your Wii, including the Homebrew Channel, etc., anyone will be able to play any of the Wii's downloadable games without too much trouble. For as long as you can still actually buy the games I won't be doing that as it's not right, and I think I'll buy a bunch of WiiWare stuff at some point before the shutdown, but once Nintendo makes it impossible to buy downloadable Wii games again? Yeah, that'll be the time to mod my Wii. There is no reason not to once Nintendo has said "we don't want your money anymore or care about game preservation", as they have once again done here.
I wonder, when do MS and Sony follow suit and take down the PS3 and X360 online systems, including online stores and multiplayer... it'll probably be long after Nintendo, since MS particularly had so much more success at getting people online than Nintendo ever did (for good reason), but it probably will happen eventually. That X360 dashboard sure looks empty without all the online stuff on it though, and I still use my 360 online regularly, something I have never done with the Wii, so yeah, I hope MS keeps their 360 servers running indefinitely.
On that note, I wonder, will you still be able to use Wii applications like Netflix and such after this shutdown? Like, 'you can use it if you have it but can't re-download it anymore' or something? Heh...
But anyway, overall this is disappointing but was going to happen. I'm just glad that hackers have backed up everything in this store, or else this would be much, MUCH worse. But before this shutdown happens, I'll have to think about how much to spend on WiiWare games...
As one final thought though, the biggest mistake Nintendo made with WiiWare is that sales are not allowed. Sales are a great way to increase sales and revenues, and I like buying games that are on sale. I have a few dozen WiiWare games (and a couple of Wii VC games), but I've bought a lot fewer games for WiiWare than I would have had games gone on sale like they do on literally every other online storefront! I know Nintendo likes to not reduce the price of their games, but not allowing anyone else to ever put games on sale was a huge mistake. And if I remember right didn't Nintendo set prices for all games too, not the developers? WiiWare had issues... but despite that it has a pretty good library of games and it should be remembered for that.
So, Nintendo just released Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS. I don't have it, yet at least, but it looks really good, with great graphics, art design, and music, level designs which expand on the Game Boy original they are based on, and what sounds like pretty good gameplay and controls... and a lot of people are complaining. I hope that the game sells well and the complainers prove to be a minority, if if this game doesn't sell as well as it sounds like it should have maybe Nintendo should just give up on Metroid, these fans are impossible to please it seems...
(insert thing person saying this doesn't like here)?" -- As in, 'this thing still happens, really?'
Seriously, this is kind of a dumb meme. Donald Trump is President, and you're claiming that somehow the world is beyond whatever it is you think we should be past? Really? I'm not so sure about that to say the least...
I have to give the creators of this version credit. They know. This wasn't even tongue in cheek making fun of the fans sort of thing, they seem to be saying "help us, editor mandates are preventing us from making a superior show and budget cuts keep us from making it look as good". I think the creators really want to do more with the new show than they've been allowed to.
What do you think? I think that him running for re-election but losing is probably, by a narrow margin, the most likely outcome; it would take a lot for the Republican Party to remove him from office before 2020, and while there is more than enough evidence out there to do just that the right-wing core is in very deep denial about how much Russia affected the 2016 election (because it was in their favor), so removal isn't too likely... right now.
I would say though that the second most likely result is him either resigning or being removed from office, because as the revelations pile up eventually even the Republicans will probably be forced to do SOMETHING.
The worst one of these is of course him destroying our government and becoming dictator, but that is fortunately nearly impossibly unlikely, I think. Second worst would be him dying in office, because the last thing we want is for Trump to be come a martyr for the alt-right!
It's good. Very good. It's not perfect (that sea monster boss is an exercise in frustration with way too many instant deaths) but it's very close to it and it reminds me that, yes, the original Genesis games WERE all amazing. (Well, maybe not Chaotix. Or 3D Blast. Those weren't that bad though just not the core 4 (I still count Sonic 3 & Knuckles as one game).
They added a move that I hope future releases of the original classics put in. It's the midair charge dash. You press and hold jump a second time while in the air and you'll dash the moment you hit the ground. It is an amazing way to handle the issue of losing all forward momentum just because you hit a small obstacle. It doesn't give you any extra height or allow you to get to new areas by itself, but it is still great. Combined with that all the stages have small visual cues to clue you in that an obstacle is coming up soon so you can react to it.
Recent events -- the neonazi/neo-Confederate march on Charlottesville and such -- have been bad, but personally I'm not shocked, or as surprised by this as some seem to be. I mean, Trump ran for President on an explicitly racist agenda. He race-baited, said racist things, and more, over and over and over. He only ever ran for President in the first place because Obama is black. He has always refused to condemn racists who support him, both because he is one and because he knows that they are some of his most loyal supporters. Etc.
So that this agenda, which is now even more openly visible to everyone thanks to his horrendously racist and uncaring comments after that alt-right guy killed a protester with his car, led to a hate rally? Yeah, that makes sense. The right has been emboldened by Trump and knows that he supports them, and rallies like this are one result of that.
I do find one thing interesting, though -- the people in that march, going by the pictures, mostly just look normal; they aren't skinheads, in KKK robes, etc, they just look normal-ish. I saw one article saying that this is an intentional strategy, done to appeal to people in a way that those more obviously identifiable ways don't anymore. That makes sense, I just wish they were having less success... because for all the blowback this has gotten, clearly a significant minority of people agree with those views at least enough to continue supporting Trump, and in some cases going to these rallies. The neonazi evil is growing faster thanks to Trump (and Bannon).
It is nice to see even some more Fox News people turn on Trump over this, though -- see this clip from usually extremely Trump-friendly Fox & Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQCzhv1kfI
So yeah, the most important thing is stopping this new right. Trump seriously needs to go, by impeachment, Article 25, or something like that; even other significant Republican lawmakers are sane enough to not openly support white supremacists, so no Trump would make a real difference here. Sure, other Republicans absolutely support the far right with some of their policies, but Trump;s very overt support is a big step farther that is helping their cause, and removing Trump would help a lot.
Failing that, we need to win that election next year somehow, because seriously this administration needs to fail!
And most importantly, in the interim people need to push back against the right. I'm definitely not a supporter of the more violent wings of the left, it's wrong and illegal and I don't want to see any validity appear behind the lies some less overtly racist on the right are saying about how "but both sides are bad". Peaceful protests are important, though, and more -- contacting congresspeople, etc.
Picross 3D was one of my favorite games for the original DS, so I was really looking forward to this sequel. I waited a while after its release before buying it, but did get the game a few months ago and have been playing it regularly since. This is not a review though as there is still a huge amount left in the game, but I do want to say a few things about this mostly-awesome, and incredibly addictive, game. So I won't discuss everything about how the game works, at least not yet, just say some things I particularly like and dislike about it.
First, on the positive side, Round 2 is more Picross 3D, except sort of better! Just like the first one, Picross 3D Round 2 is a puzzle game which takes Picross, Nintendo's logic puzzle series, into the third dimension by having you chop blocks out of a cube until you are left with a shape that resembles something. Numbers along some edges tell you what blocks on each path should be kept, but there aren't numbers on all lines, not even close, so you'll need to use logic in order to succeed. Luck is rarely required, though; if you are patient and remove all blocks correctly, puzzles should all be solvable with no mistakes.
The first Picross 3D was fantastic and this game is the same, with one addition: now there are two colors. In the first Picross 3D, and in all 2d Picross games, you just have numbers along some lines and then mark or remove spaces/blocks based on that. This game, however, has two different colors of blocks, blue and orange, and each has separate sets of guide numbers and blocks. The numbers marking what blocks are in that line may have numbers in only one color or may have a number in both colors on the block. If there is only one color along one line, you know that that line only has that color of blocks. So, if a vertical line has a blue number and a horizontal line has an orange number on it, then you can remove that block because those two conflict. But if one has no number or both numbers on it, you will need more information to be able to remove it. Adding a second color significantly increases the complexity of the puzzles in this game, and it's a great addition. I really like the additional challenge of Picross 3D Round 2, versus the first one; two colors is a great idea and a good challenge!
And the colors are not just randomly applied to the blocks that make up the shape, either. Instead, in the finished sculpture, blue blocks become solid cubes, while orange blocks become shapes that uses less than the full cube, like a sphere, small rectangular solid, or things like that. Knowing this can sometimes help if you do want to make a guess, depending on what you think will be made up of full cubes versus other shapes.
Picross 3D Round 2has a lot of puzzles in it, too. I'm well into this game, but it looks like there is a lot more to see. That's great, I want this game to last! However, compared to the original game, Round Two has two major flaws.
First, the puzzle editor has been completely removed. In the original game, you can make your own Picross 3D sculpture. You set the blocks, set the colors you want them to appear in once the player finishes it, and then save it to the cartridge. Then you can play that puzzle yourself, or send it to friends via local wi-fi for them to play. You also could upload levels to Nintendo, for their consideration. Making levels was great; I only made a few, as solving your own levels isn't the greatest since you know the form before you start, but it was a lot of fun.
Second, on that latter note, Nintendo offered many downloadable level packs for Picross 3D for the original DS. Some of these level packs are made up of stages made by Nintendo while others are collections of fanmade levels, but either way these level packs were awesome and added a lot of life to this game. Unfortunately the service has been shut down, since all Nintendo DS and Wii online multiplayer servers were shut off when Gamespy went out of business, and individual Picross 3D carts can only hold maybe half of the levels that were offered, but still it was great while it lasted. I downloaded as many levels as I could, but there are more I never saw... I hope fans saved all of those packs, for play somehow! (The same applies to other games with online level sharing, such as the last Mario vs. Donkey Kong game for DS.)
This 3DS sequel Picross 3D Round 2, however, completely removes both of these important features. There is no level editor to be found this time, and no online level packs to download; instead, the levels included with the base game are all you get, period. If you want to play more Picross after finishing all of them, well, you'd better like 2d Picross, because Nintendo has made a bunch of different downloadable 2d Picross games on the 3DS. There is no way to get more 3d Picross content, though, and that's sad because it was all right there in the original game, you just had to copy that but with additions for the two-col;or system! Sure, that would make level creation more complex, but it'd still be very doable and lots of fun.
overall, though, despite that very annoying flaw, Picross 3D Round 2 is an awesome game and I like it a lot. I wish that they hadn't removed the online level trading and level editor, but the hundreds of puzzles that are in this game are great and I'm having a lot of fun slowly working my way through them.
